Come and hear how the School of Public and International Affairs at UGA will prepare you for a career in the government and nonprofit sectors!

Visitation day is an opportunity to get an inside look into our MPA program and get a feel for it before you begin. Both prospective applicants, as well as those already accepted, are encouraged to attend. Throughout this session you will learn about our MPA degree, as well as hear from faculty, students, and alumni of our internationally renowned graduate program. Not only are we offering you an outstanding education, we are also providing you with a community that will last a lifetime. (Lunch provided)

Attendance is free, but you must Register by March 7^th

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What does Godzilla have to do with predicting how close we are to nuclear war? According to Dr. Jeff Berejikian, who recently presented on this topic at TedxUGA: everything.

For Berejikian, the story of Godzilla offers an important metaphor about the relationship between citizens and their democracy. 鈥淲hen we ignore big problems, they don鈥檛 go away, they get bigger,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ometimes they come back as giant monsters that seek to destroy us.鈥�

Berejikian describes how, in the 1954 blockbuster, a true a crisis ensued after government officials took it upon themselves to secretly test a hydrogen bomb. While their broader intentions were admirable, officials chose not to tell the public about what was happening, and this, according to Berejikian, is what鈥檚 most relevant now. Small groups of public officials, even when well-intentioned, can make terrible mistakes.

To examine this idea, Berejikian described a recent research project in which his team attempted to identify the conditions under which government officials might accidentally start a nuclear conflict.

Building upon principles from the discipline of cognitive science, Berejikian and his colleagues conducted a set of psychological experiments comparing the decisions of military officials and the general public. They found that, for officials, 鈥淩e-framing the same situation from gains to losses more than doubled the percentage of experts who recommended going to war with a nuclear-armed country”

Ultimately, they found that military experts were easier to manipulate into starting a war than regular civilians. As we inch closer and closer to nuclear war, it becomes imperative that we have an informed public actively participating in the big, important decisions of our time.

There are many examples of how an informed public can shape our government’s decisions. For example, citizens鈥� awareness of growing nuclear arms race in Europe, during the Cold War, produces such backlash the U.S. and Russia signed treaty banning the placement of nuclear weapons in Europe.

鈥淭hose protests, those demonstrations, and the politics that resulted put pressure on the U.S. and on European governments to negotiate with Russia and create the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement, which got rid of the weapons.鈥�

鈥淗owever,鈥� he continued, 鈥渙ur attention has waned since the end of the Cold War and the United States and Russia were both able to pull out of the treaty in the past year, all without any media or citizen attention. With public pressure we created that agreement, when public pressure left, the countries withdrew.鈥�

This, he explains, is why it鈥檚 still possible for a “Godzilla problem” to result from public officials making decisions without the voice of the people.

He offered a glimmer of hope, which he defined as citizen participation. 鈥淚 firmly believe, and this is why I teach, that broader-informed public engagement gives us the best chance of solving our problems. I don鈥檛 know what the right answers are but I do think the democratic institution is where the answers can be found.鈥�

To watch the TedxUGA talk, click here.

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New findings from 快猫短视频 Professor W. David Bradford elaborate on a well-known economic principle.

Time discounting, when a person cares less about a future consequence than a present one, is considered a 鈥渇undamental characteristic of human decision-making,鈥� Bradford explains. 聽

For example, a person may choose to have a cupcake today, even though they are trying to lose weight.

Within the field of economics, it鈥檚 often observed that a person will choose a smaller good today over a larger good later. But the further the decision is in the future, the more likely they are to choose the larger good.

This means if a person was offered $50 today or $100 next week, a surprising amount of people choose the $50 today, even though they understand it鈥檚 much less money. But when asked about making the decision in the future, $50 in two years or $100 in three years, the majority choose the higher amount.

This concept is called hyperbolic discounting. The idea is that people make dramatically worse decisions when thinking of the present and short-term, but their decision-making stabilizes over time.

Several theories have been developed to explain this phenomena, but not all researchers are convinced 鈥渉yperbolic discounting鈥� is what鈥檚 occurring.

This lack of consensus prompted Bradford, along with colleagues at the London School of Economics, to create an experiment designed to tease out what really is happening.

They found that when they view the results in terms of 鈥渙bjective鈥� time, hyperbolic discounting is present but when they view the results in terms of 鈥渟ubjective鈥� time, there is not much of a hyperbolic pattern.

Bradford specifies that they do see a dramatic difference between same day choice comparisons like the cupcake example, sometimes called 鈥渇irst day effects,鈥� but from 鈥渢omorrow鈥� on the choices people make are fairly consistent.

These findings indicate that hyperbolic discounting may just be a result of expecting people to understand objective time, rather than a real difference in preferences. Bradford concludes, 鈥淧eople seem to be more consistent than we give them credit for.鈥�

While explaining the impact of this line of research, Bradford alludes to the beginning of the human race. 鈥淕iven that our survival depended on being able to scavenge food, it鈥檚 not surprising that a preference for the present is written into our DNA.鈥�

He continued, 鈥淎 human that turned away a meal just because they weren鈥檛 hungry right then was a human who might not survive.鈥�

He proceeded to explain that a strong preference for the present isn鈥檛 necessarily a bad thing because there are very few situations when a person is truly choosing between a consequence today or tomorrow.

Except in cases of addiction. In the case of quitting an addictive substance, a user can plan to quit 鈥渢omorrow鈥� but it will never happen unless they are able to make the decision 鈥渢oday.鈥�

For this reason, Bradford hopes that this line of research will help people to see addiction as 鈥渇uture discounting gone haywire鈥� instead of as a moral failing.

He believes that psychologists and physicians treating people with substance use disorders can use this research to help people in treatment make better decisions.

The article is now available online from the .

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Assistant Professor Dr. Lihi Ben Shitrit was recently awarded a Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs. According to the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) this fellowship was created for 鈥渟cholars in the humanities and related social sciences who are pursuing research on any aspect of religion in international contexts and who desire to connect their specialist knowledge with journalists and media practitioners.鈥� Launched in 2015, the Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs (RJIA) is designed to foster new connections between scholars and journalists covering international affairs.

Ben Shitrit was selected for her project Women and the Holy City: Women’s Movements in the Struggle over Jerusalem’s Sacred Space. Ben Shitrit plans to connect with journalists and NGOs in Israel and Palestine and engage them on the research topic of her book. She also plans to write op-eds for several online outlets and to work with journalists in India to discuss comparative cases.

快猫短视频 congratulates Dr. Lihi Ben Shitrit, we are all excited to see her final project and the connections she will make through this fellowship. Dean Matthew Auer explains, 鈥淭he list of winners of the Luce/ACLS Fellowship reads like a who鈥檚 who of top scholars in the social sciences and humanities. We are thrilled that Dr. Ben-Shitrit has earned this coveted award.鈥�

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Cambridge Press completed by two researchers at the University of California, Irvine, ranking the 4,089 currently tenured or tenure-track political science faculty in American PhD-granting departments. Several of 快猫短视频鈥檚 political science and public administration professors are included.

Keith Poole and Larry O鈥橳oole are both included in the top 100 most frequently cited faculty members in political science. Keith Poole, Larry O鈥橳oole, and Hal Rainey are listed among the top 25 most frequently cited faculty members who received their PhDs between 1975 and 1979. Cas Mudde is listed among the top 25 most cited faculty members who received their PhDs between 1995 and 1999. Keith Poole is ranked in the top 25 most frequently cited in the 鈥淎merican Politics鈥� category and Larry O鈥橳oole is ranked in the top 25 most cited in the 鈥淧ublic Policy, Public Administration, Public Law, and Political Psychology鈥� category. Hal Rainey is also ranked in the top 25 most cited in the 鈥淚nternational Relations鈥� category.

Dean Matthew Auer explains that this is an exciting finding because it shows the extent of 快猫短视频鈥檚 research impact. 鈥淐itation rates tell us something about scholarly influence and impact. In Kim and Grofman鈥檚 study, it is gratifying to see four faculty members from 快猫短视频 in a variety of 鈥榤ost-cited鈥� categories, including the 鈥榯op 100.鈥� Strikingly, faculty from all three of 快猫短视频鈥檚 academic departments are mentioned.鈥�

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What attracted you to UGA?
GS: Many things! Athens is a desirable location and UGA has a great reputation as an institution committed to strong teaching and research. 快猫短视频 in particular is on an excellent trajectory and political science is building out their expertise in political behavior, which is what I study. The opportunity to be a part of building that area is really exciting.

What are you working on that you’re most excited about?
GS: Lots of projects. There are a couple of that stand out at the moment though. The first examines how much weight people place on different dimensions of public policies when deciding whether they support or oppose them. For instance, do people judge policies based on who they think benefits from the policy vs. the mechanism used to implement the policy, like cutting taxes.

The other project that I鈥檓 just starting on is a collaborative effort that looks at the content of people鈥檚 beliefs about voter fraud. We allow people to give in-depth open-ended responses after being asked to tell us what they think defines voter fraud. My collaborator and I think we are going to find a lot of depth here, including evidence that people have pretty diverse views about what voter fraud means.

What was your favorite part of your college experience?
GS: Being a part of a diverse community. I was able to grow with a cohort of other students from a variety of backgrounds.

Please tell us about your research interests.
GS: I study American politics and political psychology. In particular, my research examines how people make political decisions and the sources of their beliefs about politics. I also study political parties and polarization.

How do you like to spend your time when you’re not working?
GS: I have an 18-month old son, so most of my free time is spent trying to keep up with him. Otherwise, I enjoy cooking and hiking. I鈥檓 looking forward to exploring outdoor areas around Athens and in Georgia more broadly.

What is your favorite food?
GS: It鈥檚 very hard to pick just one. I really enjoy Vietnamese food, especially Pho.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
GS: It will sound pretty cheesy, but I鈥檓 proud of my son. His growth is due to many people and I鈥檓 happy to have contributed!

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
GS: Flight. Anything to avoid waiting for a plane at the airport.

What advice do you have for 快猫短视频 students?
GS: Explore. Take courses that sound interesting to you. Study abroad. Join student organizations. Complete an internship. College is a great opportunity explore your interests and to find out what really drives you.

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Dr. Kim鈥檚 research offered perspectives on the state of economic inequality around the world.
鈥淚n many OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, inequality is at its highest level in thirty years and continues to rise.鈥� She also discussed the differing effects that globalization has had across the globe: globalization has led to increased economic inequality in most countries, especially highly developed countries like Korea and the U.S., but has also led to decreases in economic inequality in a few countries like Turkey and Greece.

Kim鈥檚 work also shows the negative effects of high levels of income inequality, particularly the harmful effects it can have on employment rates and the labor market. She demonstrated that as inequality increases, life expectancy tends to decrease. Similarly, her work shows that as the top one percent of income earners dominate more of the market in a country, societal evaluations of happiness decrease.

Kim points to 鈥渋nclusive growth,鈥� economic growth that is distributed across society, as a potential solution that could lead to more economic mobility and more opportunities for the working class. Research shows that when governments decide to create policies that encourage inclusive growth, equity of opportunities increases and everyone gets to participate in the economic benefits that come from the economic growth.

Kim believes education can 鈥渂e a force of convergence,鈥� to decrease the income divide. However, she notes, governments must first improve the equality of education and expand access to higher level education. One way she sees of doing this is decreasing the resource gap and providing more centralized funding for education, pre-kindergarten through college.

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Kelly is a Georgia native and earned her A.B. in political science from UGA. Since graduating, she鈥檚 worked in public policy in a variety of different facets. She started her career as a lobbyist for UPS in Washington D.C., then returned to Atlanta to start Georgia Watch, a consumer watchdog organization. In 2009 Kelly left Georgia Watch to help start The Ray.

The Ray is an organization dedicated to making roadways 鈥渟marter.鈥� Kelly describes this mission as serving a lot of ends, including making roads safer, 鈥済reener,鈥� and more multiuse. 鈥淲e鈥檝e improved every other kind of transportation, why is it okay to lose 40,000 people per year in surface transport?鈥� She asked rhetorically while illustrating the need for road improvements.

The Ray includes a stretch of road 18 miles long on Georgia鈥檚 I-85, and the land and communities surrounding it. This space is used to test new roadway technology, such as driveable solar panels, roadside solar panels, roadside pollinator habitats, and road-embedded sensors that collect data for self-driving cars.

Kelly and The Ray have worked to make futuristic-sounding innovation a present-day reality by combining technological research and innovation with lobbying to help public policy catch up. Kelly gets to use her more than 15 year of public policy experience to make these new inventions a reality.

Kelly believes that innovation, safety, and lower environmental impact options should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for them. This passion for allowing everyone to reap the benefits of progress drives The Ray to find ways to be inclusive. One example of this inclusivity is that The Ray shares the electricity it collects from it鈥檚 solar panels with local communities, including low-income communities, near the roadway, to provide sustainable, low-cost energy.

Kelly urges students of public policy to be aware of technology and to consider the future of technological advances as they work to make policy in the future. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we, as a nation, are thinking of policy as we are preparing for advances that technology is creating. Because right now, technology is outpacing public policy.鈥�

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Mollie Cohen received her PhD in Political Science from Vanderbilt University. From 2017-2018, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Latin American Public Opinion Project and a postdoctoral researcher with the Trans-Institutional Brazil Health Policy Project. Cohen鈥檚 research focuses on elections, public opinion, voting behavior, and political representation, especially in the Latin American region. She will be teaching Introduction to Comparative Politics this fall.

What attracted you to UGA?

MC: The IA department is a very young and research active environment, and seemed like an exciting 鈥� and very collegial! 鈥� place to work. On top of that, Athens seemed like an awesome place to live.

What are you working on that you’re most excited about?

MC: I鈥檓 currently working on a book manuscript that examines why individuals cast blank and spoiled votes in Latin America and the world. These protest votes are cast at very high rates in some countries 鈥� they often 鈥渂eat鈥� the first-place candidate in legislative elections! 鈥� but scholars have tended to treat them as voter errors. Contrary to much existing scholarship, I find that much invalid voting in presidential elections isn鈥檛 accidental and isn鈥檛 an expression of anti-democratic attitudes. Rather, individuals intentionally invalidate their ballots in protest of the slate of candidates available or the policies those candidates propose. The book also looks at whether and how campaigns promoting invalid voting are successful. While these 鈥渁gainst-all鈥� campaigns receive a lot of news coverage, I find that they are only rarely able to successfully mobilize voters to spoil their votes, and that they are best able to do so when they are led by very popular individuals with a clear and convincing grievance to protest.

What was your favorite part of your college experience?

MC: During my last year at UCSD, I had the opportunity to participate in the Mexican Migration Field Research and Training Program. I went to Mexico and Los Angeles to conduct survey and semi-structured interviews with migrants in the U.S. that came from a small town in Mexico, and with citizens living in that town. That experience convinced me to pursue a career in public opinion: I really enjoyed developing survey questions, interviewing respondents, and writing up the results for publication. It was hard work, but was also extremely gratifying.

Please tell us one fun fact about you.

MC: As a child, I lived in Mr. Roger鈥檚 (actual, real-life) neighborhood. We ran into him on the street.

What are you looking forward to in the coming year?

MC: Working in a place with so much school spirit!!

What is one goal you have for yourself for the next year?

MC: To run my tenth half marathon.

Do you have any pets? If so, what kind(s)?

MC: Yes! My dog Nelson is a Boston Lab (a black lab/ Boston terrier 鈥� at least, that鈥檚 what we think). He鈥檚 a very good boy.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?

MC: Finishing my Ph.D.

Who inspires you in your research or career?

MC: My grandparents, and many strong female mentors.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

MC: To speak any language fluently without studying it.

What advice do you have for 快猫短视频 students?

MC: First, get to know your professors! We are all here in part because we want to interact with you and talk about your ideas and interests. A related bonus is that students who come to office hours perform better in class, without fail.聽Second, take care of yourself! School and your social activities are important, but your physical and mental health are more important.

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As Grafstein explains, Newcomb鈥檚 Problem, also known as Newcomb鈥檚 Paradox, can help us understand why people choose to vote by helping us to view the decision not to vote as a rational choice. He mentions that this is only one of many social scientific applications of the thought experiment, 鈥淣ewcomb鈥檚 Problem isn鈥檛 an esoteric issue鈥� It actually relates to a lot of decisions that we make, including in politics and society, the most notable one being voting but there are lots of other ones as well.鈥�

Grafstein鈥檚 article will be a chapter in a Cambridge University Press book about Newcomb鈥檚 Problem coming out in October.

Another topic Grafstein has been researching gets to the core of recent voting issues in another way. 鈥淭he Problem with Polarization,鈥� recently published in Public Choice, goes deeper into the issue of polarization and extremism in politics. Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal identified this problem in the 1980s, but Grafstein鈥檚 paper attempts to explain exactly why polarization is an issue today.

鈥淧olarization itself is not a problem as long as people can put aside their beliefs and shake hands at some point. But we鈥檙e seeing polarization that leads to extremism and dysfunctional politics, which is why it has become a problem,鈥� Grafstein explains.

What Grafstein has found is that income is an important source of the polarization that leads to extremist beliefs. This is rather groundbreaking considering extremist beliefs are often referred to by the media as the result of psychological or genetic issues. But as Grafstein explains, 鈥�20 percent of Trump voters voted for Obama, so it鈥檚 highly unlikely that those people just 鈥榮napped鈥� between elections. Rather, they鈥檙e making a tradeoff. People do not become polarized as a result of some psychological or genetic issue, they become polarized based on their reaction to risk related to their income.鈥�

So according to Grafstein, politics is a risky endeavor, but it鈥檚 more risky for people at the economic poles which is what leads to political polarization. People on the low end of the economic spectrum have a lot to gain compared to the risk of having their income drastically reduced. People on the high end of the economic spectrum risk losing their fortunes. This risk pushes people at the economic poles toward the political poles.

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